The field of this invention relates to a device to ease a small boat against a pier prior to mooring of the boat.
Operators of small pleasure craft, both sail and power, have long been faced with the problem of safely and easily bringing their boats to a stop directly adjacent a dock, pier or piling and then mooring or securing the boat thereto with suitable mooring lines. It is particularly difficult to manuever a small sail boat without power or even a small power boat with only a single engine in close quarters at slow speeds where steerage is severely limited. In many instances it requires the presence of a person on the dock to receive a line thrown from the boat or to throw a line to someone on the deck of the boat to assist in bringing the boat safely to the dock.
There are multiple hazards to the foredeck hand who attempts to fend a moving boat off of a dock when the boat is moving too fast to safely dock. There are also hazards involved when a person leaps from the deck of the boat to the dock and attempts to handle an approaching boat. And, of course, even with all hands safe, if the boat is traveling too fast, there is a risk of substantial serious damage either to the hull of the craft or to the dock or pier in the event of a collision.
The prior art has generally provided either a loose line, which one can cast or throw either to someone on the dock or attempt to loop around a projecting pylon or piling, and thereby have a means for securing the boat. However, a loose line provides no means for fending off the boat if the boat is moving at too high a rate of speed into contact with the pier.
Additionally, many boats are equipped with boat hooks which are long handled devices with which one can grapple for either the pier or the piling and/or fend the boat off the pier. However, it is common for the end of the boat hook to slip off of the piling or the pier and the boat then strongly bumps the pier or piling. This contact with the pier is undesirable, not only from a point that the paint of the boat may be scratched and removed, but also that the boat structure itself can be damaged.
A common hazard which frequently occurs in the guiding of a boat into a pier is that the person reaching for the pier may be caused to fall into the water. It seems as though when a man and a woman are in the boat together, it is usually the man at the helm of the boat and the woman is the person grabbing for the pier. If this occurs in colder climates where the water can be quite cold, it can only take a few minutes before the person can be caused to go into shock from the coldness of the water. Women seem to be more sensitive to this than men, and it is ironic that in most instances they are the persons who are reaching for the pier. Additionally, older people and specifically older women, are extremely sensitive to cold water. It is not at all uncommon for an older woman to go into shock and actually die before the lady can be pulled from the water. There is a definite need for a simple and effective device which could be used by even the most unskilled person to aid in the docking and mooring of a small pleasure boat.